mattfry

Hot Dogs, Baseball and...

Tonight our family went to the Durham Bulls baseball game. There’s nothing like a nice warm (ok it was HOT… 97 degrees) summer evening eating a hot dog and watching a minor league baseball game. Durham Bulls (AAA team for the Tampa Bay Rays) played against the Lehigh Iron Pigs (AAA team for the Philadelphia Phillies). Before the game we enjoyed Hawk Nelson in concert and later my favorite group of all time… Veggietales.

By the wayour God and Country Celebration! is only one week away. Sunday, July 6 at 9:15 and 11:15am we will be having a big time party at C3. The Dale Earnhardt Jr. #88 car will be on campus at C3, we will have free snow cones for the kids, awesome music and I will be speaking.

The reason why Dale Jr.’s car will be here is because his sponsor is the National Guard. As a part of the celebration we will be collecting care boxes for the NC Guard serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. I believe this will be one of the most amazing weekends we have ever had at C3.

LSU and Carolina… Joe Champion @ C3

There’s a big game this week in the NCAA World Series baseball… #2 Carolina against the LSU Tigers.  Most of you know I’m not a big Carolina fan, but I think LSU is going down.

Speaking of LSU… Joe Champion and his family were at C3 this week wearing their LSU attire and talking smack about how bad Carolina is going to get beat.  Joe is a former football player at LSU (Offensive Guard and Center). 

It was a privilege to host them for a few days. Pastor Joe and Lori started Celebration Church near Austin, TX about 8 years ago and it has grown to a church of over 5,000 people (from 3,000 to 5,000 in the last 18 months).

One of the interesting things about what they have gone through recently is they have had 17 staff changes in the last 18 months.  Some staff just transitioned but a few got pretty ugly and divisive.  Vision divided is Di-vision.  There is only one vision for our church and we all need to stay unified together.

Joe also spoke to a group of about 24 pastors and staff from all over NC during a pastors roundtable/luncheon we had on Wednesday. It was a powerful time of discussing the raw and real stuff of growing churches, and the prayer time at the end was a special time.

Wednesday night Joe spoke to about 300 Kingdom Builders at C3.  He shared about Gideon’s 300 from Judges 6. Here are 7 thoughts of being a Kingdom Builder:

1.    Kingdom Builders Rise Above Recession
2.    Kingdom Builders are Sons and Daughters of the House
3.    Kingdom Builders Make It Happen
4.    Kingdom Builders Are Human
5.    Kingdom Builders Are Givers
6.    Kingdom Builders Are Team Builders
7.    Kingdom Builders Are Winners

(Joe Champion speaking at C3)

You can listen to the entire talk on the C3 Leadership podcast or by clicking here.  We will know soon if Carolina can take it all in the World Series… Who do you think is going to win?

COTW Highlights and Fathers Day

This past weekend was one of the most exciting weekends we've had at C3. Children of the World shared their ministry with us and I know they touched every heart.

COTW is a group of children that are orphans that travel around the U.S. sharing the vision of helping with children and families affected by AIDS. They are a part of the World Help ministry from VA founded by Vernon Brewer. I am excited to share that C3 sponsored over 100 children on Sunday with a gift of $30 or more a month!  I continue to be blown away at the generosity of C3 Church. Tomorrow we will be showing a highlight video of last weekend.

Fathers Day
We will also be honoring all Dads as we celebrate Fathers Day. All of the men are going to receive a cool gift tomorrow that I know you will enjoy... We will also be continuing our One Prayer series and our prayer this week is..."Lord, Make Us Wise"  Gonna be a great day!

Children of the World

This weekend the world is coming to C3! Literally. We will have a group of children from several countries that are orphans... and they will be sharing their ministry of worship and dance with us in both of our Sunday morning services.  This will be the second time they have been to C3 and you will be blessed big time.  We also will continue our One Prayer series.  To hear the kick off message from last Sunday you can go to our C3 podcast or click here.

Outdoor Baptisms Rock!

This past weekend we baptized in our outdoor baptistery/fountain for the first time and it was awesome.  At the end of each service those in the worship center watched on a live feed as I baptized those who were making professions of faith.  This is a dream come true… and the experience was beyond my expectations.  We are going to do several more outdoor baptisms during the summer while it’s hot… and it is ever HOT today…close to 100 degrees.

Here are some pics of the baptism service.

Are You Enjoying or Enduring Ministry?

On Tuesday we had our All Staff Meeting at C3 and I shared some thoughts on having gladness and joy while serving in ministry.  Psalm 100:2 says, “Serve the LORD with gladness; come before His presence with singing.” (NKJV) Here is some of what was shared.

• Serve the Lord with gladness when you’re on stage. No matter who you are, you are on a platform. Whether on the worship team or in a tech booth, people need to see you authentically enjoying ministry.
• Serve the Lord with gladness when you’re off stage.  Your life at church shouldn’t look different than your life at home or the grocery store. Gladness and willingness to serve should be part of your character, not part of your job.
• Serve in your area of ministry like you’re the owner. If you owned a restaurant or business of some kind, how would you serve and treat your customers? You would do whatever it takes to satisfy them with whatever your business provides.
• You serve the Lord with gladness when you understand that you’re called. The Almighty God has called you to serve Him, and He’s given you a specific assignment for where you are right now. What a privilege that is! Have a “want to” attitude rather than a “have to” attitude.

To listen to the meeting, go to our C3 Leadership Podcast.

Charles Billingsley in Concert at C3!

Tonight at C3, my friend Charles Billingsley will be in concert at our First Wednesday service.  Charles is the former lead singer for NewSong and is currently the worship leader at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, VA. He’s a passionate and gifted musician and worship leader. Be sure to bring your family and friends because tonight will be a powerful time of worship.